I have been searching around on the site looking for the recommended first mods. I dont launch that often, like hardly ever so i dont need some frame connectors, and i dont want gears yet, i just want to make some power. I was going to stick with exhaust work but then everone is like dont get headers it will make you slower. ok. So some people are saying get heads and cam. IS this a good idea? Should i be able to gain a large amount of power with a good set of headers and a cam? If so which ones? How long should i wait before i replace the headers? Give me as much information as you can. Thanks in advace.
Heads and cam?
- Thread starter townethug
- Start date
perkys stang
New Member
Best advice I can give is do the basics before you make more power before you destory your car.. Subframs are a must and any stang. Launching the car isn;t the only thing that going to twist it.. With out exhaust/intake and other bolt on items those heads and a cam won't be a very big gain...
I would suggest making a plan.. Grab the headers / subframes and other bolt on to prepare youself for heads and a cam later...
I would suggest making a plan.. Grab the headers / subframes and other bolt on to prepare youself for heads and a cam later...
Well what other bolt on's, these are the things that i am trying to find out. I want to make a plan but as soon as i come up with one someone is like dont do that it will make your car slower until you do this... Should i get just get headers, mid pipe and catback system then work on an intake, tb and manifold?
Who ever told you that headers will make your car slower is mistaken. You sound like you know what to do already "Should i get just get headers, mid pipe and catback system then work on an intake, tb and manifold?" I would do exactly that. After gears and subframes. Why dont you want the gears? I didnt want them either at first. But after I got them, I think they made as much differerence as my heads at 1/5 the price. My mileage stayed about the same too. It went from around 23(3.08s) to around 21(3.55s) on the highway.
Michael Yount
Mustang Master
bc474's got you covered - subframes help in MANY ways as the unibody on the cars is extremely flexible. Tighten it up first. Put a flat panel K&N into the stock airbox and remove the fenderwell silencer. Move the timing from 10 degrees btdc to about 14. Gears make a HUGE difference - do them along with the subframes first - you may not want anymore power if you do that first, and there'll be no impact on drivability. Long tube headers and good x/h pipe/cat back will help. When you start to change the engine, the stock lower intake is the first thing to change - it's the bottleneck to flow. A fellow on the sites tmoss does a budget port job of the lower intake - very effective at letting the motor breath. Do that - filter, exhausts, gears, subframes, ported stock lower - you'll see a significant difference in performance with virtually no degradation in drivability. If you still want more, then you can start playing with heads/cam/throttle body/maf/etc. Alternatively, just throw a supercharger on it instead of the heads/cam/etc. The motors are very effective nearly bone stock with some boost.
Thanks so much guys, i have been posting here for a while trying to learn some things, but most of the people give like vague answers and it tells me nothing. Now when i am doing the headers i want to do long tubes but i need to be able to swap out my off road h pipe with the stock pipe when ever emmisions comes around. From what i hear the long tubes wont work with the stock h. So i guess i am going to get the shorties so that things fit better. Do you think i should get equal or unequal shorties? Or should i just get the LT's with an h-pipe that has the cat's? Also i hear that the lt's dont fit as well. What kind of difference in 1/4 mile time and pull from the car will i see with 3.55's? Is it a big difference? Thanks alot.
Michael Yount
Mustang Master
To use your hpipe with long tubes, you'll have to have it modified so it bolts up. And if you want to swap in your stock hpipe, you'll have to have it modded too. Alternatively, you could go to shorties and then swap them in and out at will. Recent tests I've seen don't show much peak hp difference between equal, unequal or longtubes, but HUGE differences in bottom end gain with the long tubes. I'd go either with unequal shorties to ease your cat issue, or with long tubes. THe equal length shorties take up a lot of room, add lots of heat to the engine compartment, make plug changes a challenge, and can be hard to install. Of course long tubes can be hard to install too.
Hard to say what improvement in 1/4 mile time will come from the gear. But it's well worth it - drivability, response is vastly improved when you dump the 2.73's that are likely in the car. 3.55's or 3.73's seem to be the ticket.
Hard to say what improvement in 1/4 mile time will come from the gear. But it's well worth it - drivability, response is vastly improved when you dump the 2.73's that are likely in the car. 3.55's or 3.73's seem to be the ticket.
Michael Yount
Mustang Master
Oh - one alternative you suggested is a good one - go with long tubes, and get an hpipe with high flow cats in place - and run them all the time. The high flow cats offer very little restriction to flow, and they knock the booming resonances off the exhaust sound. Cost a little, but you won't be having to swap out hpipes each time inspection rolls around. That'd be worth some money to me if I had to go through emissions inspection.
